Chapter 5: The Ball

Ever since the fall of the chandelier, things had gotten very strange. For one thing, the managers were not as cheerful as they had been. The fall of the chandelier was a tax upon both of their minds. They were barely approachable. Then, there was Penelope. She had disappeared from performing and she had disappeared from the Opera.

Peter went to the managers to find out where she was. When told she was on sick leave, he was in a panic. They were not able to tell her when she would be back, only that they had taken her on her word for her illness. Peter was at a loss.

When Peter arrived home, Phillip noticed his pain and offered some news to cheer him up: Penelope had been seen in a brougham, taking the same road every night. Peter was determined to catch her, determined to tell her to run away with him. Her Angel of Music could not have meant anything good for her, especially with how fearful she was when the Angel was brought up in conversation.

So, Peter went to the road and sat in the cold night, waiting for Penelope. He waited for someone that he loved and was certain did not or could not love him back. It was a terrible heartache, especially for someone so young.

After a few hours of waiting, the brougham passed by. Peter clearly saw Penelope's face looking out the window, taking in the night air. His heart leapt for joy. "Penelope!" he called. Before he could get her attention further, the carriage took off into the night and, no matter how hard he tried to run after it, it was gone. He went home and wept.

Morning came and found him in the same clothes he had been in last night. The servants and his brother were concerned for him. However, a messenger gave him a note from Penelope and he was encouraged again. It told him to meet her at the Opera's ball in two night's time. He was to be well-masked and wear a white domino. She was afraid… for herself as well as him. He decided he would go.

Peter went to the ball. It was a birthday party for an artist long-since dead. It was an unleashing of old and new. As people milled about, Peter couldn't stop his thoughts from racing. Who is this man that deceives her and terrifies her so? He loved her and he hated her. The only thing he had to be thankful for that evening was that he did not have to wait long.

Penelope passed by him and pressed her hand to his. They were recognizable to no one but each other. He followed and noticed how scared she seemed. He could not bring himself to care about anything but her… until he saw him.

Walking through the halls like he owned everything was the death's head Peter had seen at Perros. It was chilling to see that man walk about, undisguised among the disguised. But of course a masquerade would be the place for him, wouldn't it? The platypus (if it could be called that, due to how unrecognizable it was) wore a suit entirely of red and black. He was elegant in manners and walk… until someone decided to test him regarding the writing on his cape. It said, "Do not touch me. I am the Red Death passing by." When someone did touch him, death's hand grabbed the man and such a glare from someone with no eyes! Needless to say, the man ran off quickly.

Penelope dragged him along to a different location, someplace isolated yet someplace where they could still see everything. It was an enclosed, dark space behind the walls. Cracks let in light. Peter removed his mask. Penelope did not remove hers.

"He must have gone up the stairs," said Peter.

"He's coming back down!" said Penelope in a panic. They saw him, the Red Death, once again.

Peter was angry that he was this close to a man who had frightened himself as well as Penelope. "He shall not escape me this time," he said.

"Please, don't!" Penelope blocked his path.

"Why do you protect this man? Let me out there so that I may unmask him, this- this evil spirit from Perros, your Angel of Music, the Red Death!"

"Peter, please, if you love me, then do not go out there!"

"If I love you? If?! Penelope, please. The more I am without you, the more I die."

"Live, my friend, and good-bye forever."

Peter, feeling bitter, reproached with, "Forever? Why forever? Surely you shall let me applaud for you every now and then."

"I shall not sing ever again."

"Is he giving you a life of leisure, then? Well, perhaps I shall see you in a brougham some evening."

"You'll never see me again."

"May I at least know into what shadows you're going to return? For what hell are you leaving, or what heaven?"

"I came here to tell you good-bye, nothing more. You wouldn't believe me, Peter. It's all over!" Oh, with such despair she said those words. It's all over repeated through Peter's head.

"Oh, Penelope…" he grabbed her hands. "Please tell me what's wrong." She pulled back and removed her mask. He gasped. Her face was haggard with worry, sleeplessness, and fear. "Oh, Penelope… my darling." He went to reach for her, but she pulled back and put her mask back on. She put a hand out: a signal not to follow. He watched her disappear into the shadows.

He left the secluded area and went around asking where the Red Death had gone. After two hours of searching endlessly and not finding the man, he gave up. He did not know what to do and before he was aware of it, he found himself before Penelope's dressing room. He knocked and, receiving no answer, he went in. She was not there. The light was on, but dimly. There was paper on the desk. He could write to her! Before he could do anything more though, he heard footsteps coming down the hall. He hid behind a screen and watched as Penelope entered the room.

He might have left, but something told him he was about to see something he needed to see, some answer to the terrifying mystery surrounding her. He watched through a crack in the screen. She did not seem aware of his presence or, if she was, she did not see him. She set her head down on the desk and looked very sorrowful. "Oh, poor Perry!" she cried.

Poor Perry? Who is Perry? Should she not be saying 'Poor Peter!'? thought Peter. He watched her begin writing. Tears escaped her eyes slowly as she filled four pages.

Then, a strange sound came from the walls. It was faraway. It was… singing? It came closer until it seemed to enter the room they were in. Peter looked and saw no one, but he clearly heard a man singing to Penelope. It was a masculine voice with a wide vocal range holding great talent and strength.

"Well, here I am, Perry. I am ready. You are the one who is late," she said. She smiled a kind of smile that held weariness and, although there may have been some happiness there, it also belayed her terror. The voice continued to sing. Such a melodious voice! Yet, what it sang was a simple song. Peter knew now that this voice merely made pebbles into gemstones and was not quite so glorious as he first thought.

It sang an old pagan hymn, a wedding song from an old play. "Destiny has chained you to me forever!"

Peter watched Penelope go toward the mirror, then through the mirror. It spun, revealing multiple reflections of Penelope. Peter ran to the mirror and tried to go through, but it was stuck shut, a flat surface once again. How did she leave and where has she gone? He thought. How will she get back?

Hearing the voice echoing through the walls, he was filled with that all-too-common emotion that new lovers receive: jealousy. As the voice faded away completely, Peter said to the empty room, "Who is this Perry?"

The next day, Peter came to the Opera and found Penelope in her dressing room. "Where have you been?" he asked her.

"You ask me as a husband would his wife," noted Penelope.

Peter felt his anger rise. "Penelope, you told me that you would be leaving and now I find you here?! Please, you must promise not to leave me ever again."

"I won't give you that promise! You are asking things of me that are not in your place to be asking. I have no husband and I will not marry." Even as she said this though, he saw a flash of jewelry on her finger. A gold ring.

"You have no husband and yet you are wearing a wedding ring."

"It's a gift," she replied simply, blushing.

"You must forgive me for asking such intruding questions, Penelope, but I worry for you. You must tell me the name of the man who put that ring on your finger. That ring is a promise and it has been accepted."

"Monsieur de Chagny, you shall never know his name," she said coldly.

"You love him, but I fear that he is not worthy of such a love!"

"That is for me to decide!"

"I am not a fool, Peter. How can you condemn a man whom you have never met and know nothing about?"

"Not quite nothing. I know the name you tried to hide from me. His name is Perry!"

She pallored. "Who told you?"

"You did! Last night you cried, 'Poor Perry.' Well, Penelope, there was a 'Poor Peter' listening."

"That is the second time you have listened outside my door!"

"I was not outside, I was inside, behind the screen."

"Oh, no. Did you want to get killed?"

"Maybe." He said it with such emotion, Penelope felt tears at her eyes.

"Swear to me to forget the name of the man's voice and to only come to my dressing room when I ask you to."

"Is this mystery really so terrible?"

"There is none more terrible."

"Will you ask me here again?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"Tomorrow."

"Then, I swear what you want." He kissed her hands and left. He cursed Perry and told himself he had to be patient.

Sorry about the slow updating. I'll try to update as soon as I can. Please keep reading and reviewing, thanks :)